Sarmatian Cults and Sarmatian Society

The proposed article addresses the problem of social reflection of the cult life of the Sarmatians, investigated with the help of archeology and written tradition. In the article, special attention is paid to the concept of priesthood, which is compared with other concepts (healers, fortune-tellers, shamans). There is a practice in the archaeological literature to use a certain set of signs for attributing burials as priestly. Researchers usually refer to priestly burials as female and male burials with extraordinary grave goods. But these burials are more likely to be the burials of leaders and their wives and are associated with the performance of certain cult actions by them. Shrines and ritual sites, as well as cult objects known in Sarmatian culture, are not necessarily associated with the specialization of cult activities. The use of the concepts of ‘Sarmatian priests’, ‘Sarmatian priestesses’ and ‘priestly attributes’ by the archaeologists is rather a tribute to historiography, but upon closer examination, they turn out to be historiographical phantoms rather than a reflection of social realities.